Quidditch is a competitive sport in the Wizarding World of the Harry Potter universe, featured in the series of novels and movies. Matches are played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls: a Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch. Six ring-shaped goals are situated atop poles of different heights, three on each side of the pitch. It is an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches. In the Wizarding World of the Harry Potter universe, Quidditch has a fervent fan following.

Harry Potter plays an important position for his house team at Hogwarts: he is the Seeker and becomes the team captain in his sixth year at school. Regional and international quidditch competitions are mentioned throughout the series. In Goblet of Fire, Quidditch at Hogwarts is cancelled for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but Harry and the Weasleys attend the Quidditch World Cup. In addition, Harry uses his Quidditch skills to capture a golden egg from a dragon called the Hungarian Horntail (in the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament), to capture a flying key in Philosopher's Stone, and on two vital occasions in Deathly Hallows — getting hold of Ravenclaw's Diadem and during the final fight with Voldemort — Harry's Quidditch skills prove extremely useful. Harry has owned two broomsticks, the Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt, both of which are lost by the series's end. His Nimbus 2000 is destroyed by the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and his Firebolt is lost in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Quidditch matches are played on (or rather over) an oval-shaped, 500 feet (150 m) long and 180 feet (55 m) wide pitch, with a small central (core) circle approximately 2 feet (0.61 m) in diameter. At each end stand three hooped goal posts, each at a different height: one at 30 ft (9.1 m), one at 40 ft (12 m), and one at 50 ft (15 m), comprising the scoring area. There is also a line that shows mid-field, which is 250 ft (76 m). Quidditch fields have white shaded areas around the goalposts, to mark the scoring area and the bounds in which keepers must stay. Since Quidditch is an aerial sport, Quidditch pitches are shown to feature spectator seating at high vantage points, either in towers (such as at Hogwarts) or in a fully encircling stadium-style platform, with the "top box" considered the most prestigious place for a spectator to be seated. The British stadium that is shown for the 1995 Quidditch World Cup in the film version of Goblet of Fire is of this latter style, which appears similar to modern football or athletics stadium, albeit that the seating continues to curve upwards beyond the vertical, almost enclosing the pitch. Both the Hogwarts and World Cup pitches have been shown turfed with grass. The surface is used primarily for launching off at the beginning of the game, and on occasion for falling onto when players are dismounted from their brooms. Seekers, who sometimes fly close to the pitch surface, can be tricked into crashing into the surface occasionally at great speed (when tricked into doing so by the opposing seeker; it is known as the Wronski feint).

The Quaffle is spherical in shape (although it is shown with four large dimples in the films, appearing more as a tetrahedron), scarlet in colour, and approximately 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter, and about the weight of a football but hollow. It is explained in Quidditch Through the Ages that the Quaffle is enchanted to fall very slowly through the air when dropped to prevent players from having to continuously dive to retrieve it. The backstory of Quidditch explains that the red colour was instituted to create a stronger contrast between the Quaffle and mud. The Quaffle is also enchanted to make it easy to grip with only one hand. Only one Quaffle is used in a game, and if the Chaser throws it through the hoop they score 10 points for their team.

The two Bludgers are round, jet black balls, made of iron. A Bludger is 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter. They are described as being bewitched to fly without any visible means of propulsion, although they do retain inertia, which makes them unable to change speed or direction swiftly. They act as airborne obstacles, flying around the pitch and trying indiscriminately to knock players off their brooms. The Beaters carry short wooden clubs, which they use to knock the Bludgers away from their teammates and/or toward the opposing team. The Bludgers do most of the damage in the game of Quidditch; they will occasionally injure players and break brooms. A correctly bewitched Bludger with no jinxes will not side with a team; they will instead alternate players after they try and knock a player from one team off their broom. In The Chamber of Secrets, Dobby bewitched a Bludger to attack Harry, and it ended up breaking his arm.

The Golden Snitch, often referred to as simply the Snitch, is a small golden ball the approximate size of a walnut (roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter). In the films, the wings on the Snitch are gold, although in the books it is described as having silver wings. The winged Snitch is enchanted to hover, dart, and fly around the pitch, avoiding capture while remaining within the boundaries of the playing area. Each team has a designated Seeker (most seekers are the lightest, fastest, and smallest players on their team), whose only task is to capture the Snitch. The seeker who catches the Snitch scores 150 points, and only the capture of the Snitch will end the game. It is mentioned in the books that on rare occasions, Quidditch games have been known to last for months, so it is of key importance to catch the Golden Snitch as quickly as possible. It is also explained in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that the Snitch has a "flesh memory", able to recall the first person who has touched it, and will respond only to the first person who caught it. This helps when there is a dispute about who caught the snitch first. No other player aside from the Seeker is allowed to touch the Snitch, and referees and Snitch makers wear gloves when handling them. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore leaves to Harry in his will the first Snitch Harry had caught, inside which he had hidden the Resurrection Stone.

The Snitch is referred to in Stephen King's "Dark Tower series". Appearing first in the fifth volume, "Wolves of the Calla", they are described as looking exactly like the ones in the Harry Potter series but are named 'Sneetches' instead. Instead of being equipment in a game however they are deadly weapons, being used by both The Wolves and the Crimson King. Roland's Ka-tet later find them in a cave in a crate labeled Harry Potter Model.

Each team is made up of seven players, consisting of three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and one Seeker.

The job of the Chasers is to keep possession of the Quaffle, and try to score a goal (worth ten points) by throwing it through one of the opponents' three hoops. They can pass it among themselves, but only one player is allowed in the scoring area at any time.

The two Beaters have to protect the rest of the team from the Bludgers by hitting them at the other team with a wooden bat (like a baseball bat), which they hold in one hand. They are usually the biggest and strongest of the team. They are not allowed to hit the Bludgers at the crowd, the referee, or the Keeper (unless the Quaffle is inside the scoring area).

The Keeper has to protect the team's goal hoops by flying in front of them and stopping the opponents from throwing the Quaffle through them.

The Seeker's job is probably the most important one on the team, and it is to catch the Golden Snitch before the opposing team's Seeker, thus ending the game and winning 150 points for their team. This almost always means that the successful Seeker's team wins, although a notable exception is when Viktor Krum Bulgaria seeker caught the Snitch for Bulgaria during the World Cup Final in Goblet of Fire, while his team were still 160 points behind Ireland (their opponents), thus making his own team lose.

Magical flying broomsticks are one of the forms of transportation for wizards and witches, as well as for playing Quidditch. Interestingly, Hogwarts Quidditch players are allowed to use whatever broomsticks they like or their sponsors can afford, despite the fact that more expensive brooms often confer great (and arguably unfair) advantages in speed and maneuverability.

The Nimbus model line has a reputation as one of the best in the Wizarding world. Harry receives a Nimbus 2000 during his first year so that he can play for Gryffindor; Lucius Malfoy buys a full set of the more advanced Nimbus 2001s for the Slytherin team as a bribe so they would choose his son Draco as Seeker the following year.

A Firebolt is an advanced professional-level flying broomstick and the most expensive and fastest racing broom in existence. It is said that they are the best in the world. They can even fly out of the atmosphere if the weather conditions are fair. Harry received a Firebolt model from his godfather, Sirius Black, after his Nimbus 2000 was destroyed during a Quidditch match in his third year after flying it into the Whomping Willow during a storm. Harry uses his Firebolt to escape the Hungarian Horntail in his fourth year during the Triwizard Cup.

Comets and Cleansweeps are cheaper than the Nimbuses and are more common; however, Cleansweeps are considered still decent brooms. A Shooting Star is another brand of broom, but it is considered to be slow and out of style (in Chamber of Secrets, Ron's old Shooting Star is said to be often outstripped by passing butterflies). Another broomstick series called The Bluebottle was introduced in the advertisements at the Quidditch World Cup, it was described as a family broom, with safety devices such as an anti-theft alarm. There is also another brand called Silver Arrows, as mentioned in Quidditch Through the Ages, along with the Oakshaft 79, Moontrimmer, Cleansweep One, Comet 140, Tinderblast, Swiftstick, Shooting Star, Nimbus 1000, and the Twigger 90. The Oakshaft is the broom famed for its journey across the Atlantic Ocean and the Moontrimmer was popular because it was still controllable at extremely high altitudes. During a Quidditch training session in the third book, Madam Hooch mentioned that she learned to fly on a Silver Arrow and that it was a fine broom.

The game starts with the referee releasing all four balls from the central circle. The Bludgers and the Snitch, having been bewitched, fly off of their own accord, the Snitch to hide itself quickly and the Bludgers to attack the nearest players. The Quaffle is thrown into the air by the referee to signal the start of play.

Chasers score by sending the red, football-sized Quaffle through any of the three goal hoops. Each goal scored is worth ten points. After a goal is scored, the Keeper of the team scored upon throws the Quaffle back into play. Capturing the Snitch earns the Seeker's team 150 points, equivalent to 15 goals scored by Chasers. Since the game ends immediately after the Snitch is caught, the team capturing the Snitch is very likely to win the game. However, teams are ranked according to points scored, not games won. For example, at Hogwarts, the team with the most points at the end of the year wins the Quidditch Cup. There are only two occasions in the books when the team that catches the Snitch loses: once during the Quidditch World Cup final, when Viktor Krum of Bulgaria catches the Snitch, and once when Ginny Weasley replaces Harry as Seeker after he has been banned from playing by Dolores Umbridge. If teams are ranked according to points scored, however, a team that knows it cannot hope to catch up to the winning team might favour quickly catching the Snitch (also ending the game) so as to end the game before any more points are scored and hence reduce the lead in point difference obtained by the winning team, so that it is easier to win them back in subsequent matches. It is suggested that Viktor Krum catches the Snitch during the World Cup to "end [the match] on his own terms" as their opponents Ireland were easily winning.[HP4]

All seven players must constantly avoid both being hit by the Bludgers (which attempt to attack them) and accidental contact with the Golden Snitch (which is a foul if anyone but a Seeker touches it).

As the game can be difficult to follow by the crowd, due to the high speed and maneuvering of the players, games will usually be commentated. Lee Jordan served as Quidditch commentator at Hogwarts for several years.

The length of a Quidditch game is variable, as play can only end with the capture of the Golden Snitch by one of the Seekers or by mutual consent of the two team captains. The game length is therefore determined largely by the Seekers' abilities. The shortest game ever is described as lasting three and a half seconds, with the score obviously being 150–0 (Seeker Roderick Plumpton catches the Snitch at the mentioned time[HPQ]). Some games can go on for days, and even months, if the Snitch is not caught. The longest game recorded supposedly lasted three months.[HP1]

The official rules of Quidditch, the wizarding game, are partially described in Quidditch Through the Ages. They are said to have been laid down in 1750 by the Department of Magical Games and Sports. There are over seven hundred fouls listed in the Quidditch rulebook, but 90% of the fouls listed are acknowledged by the rules concerning wand use against other players or referees. Some of the more common rules are as follows:

Players must not stray over the boundary lines of the pitch, although they may fly as high as desired. The Quaffle must be surrendered to the opposition if any player leaves the boundary. Quidditch matches in the Harry Potter films, however, show players often deliberately flying over the boundary lines and even around the spectator towers.

A time out may be called at any time by a team Captain. It may be extended to two hours if a game has already lasted for more than twelve hours. Failure to return to the pitch afterward disqualifies the offending team.

The referee can impose penalties if a foul occurs. A single Chaser from the fouled team takes a penalty shot by flying from the central circle towards the scoring area. The opposing team's Keeper may attempt to block this shot, but no other player may interfere, much like a penalty shot in ice hockey.

Contact is allowed, but a player may not grasp another's broomstick or any part of his or her body.

No substitution of a player is allowed, even if one is too badly hurt to continue (rare exceptions may be made when the game continues for a great length of time, and players become too fatigued to continue).

Players may take their wands onto the pitch, but they must not be used on or against any players, any player's broomstick, the referee, any of the four balls, or the spectators. (The right to carry wands at all times was granted during the height of wizard and witch persecution by Muggles, according to Quidditch Through the Ages).

Players are not allowed to attack one another by wand, any part of body, or broom at any times—the only legal attack against opposite players is Bludgers hit by team's Beaters.

Rowling writes that there are 700 Quidditch fouls listed in the Department of Magical Games and Sports records, but most of these fouls are not open to the public, owing to the Department's supposed fear the wizards/witches who read the list of fouls "might get ideas". It is claimed that all 700 occurred during the very first Quidditch World Cup. Apparently, most are now impossible to commit as there is a ban on using wands against an opponent (imposed in 1538). The most common of those fouls which are described are enumerated below.

Blagging: No player may seize any part of an opponent's broom to slow or hinder the player (Draco Malfoy commits this foul in Prisoner of Azkaban, by grabbing Harry's broomtail to stop him from seizing the Snitch).

Blatching: No player may fly with the intent to collide. (Substitute Slytherin seeker Harper breaks this rule when he collides into Harry after insulting the latter's friend, and Gryffindor Keeper, Ronald Weasley. This occurs in the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.)

Blurting: No player may lock broom handles with the intent to steer an opponent off course. (Often occurs while playing Slytherin.)

Bumphing: Beaters must not hit Bludgers toward spectators (although Harry jokingly orders one of his Beaters to send one at Zacharias Smith in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), or the Keeper, unless the Quaffle is within the scoring area (in the first film, however, Marcus Flint, a Slytherin Chaser and team captain, commits this foul with a Beater's bat by hitting a Bludger towards Gryffindor's captain and keeper Oliver Wood, and Madam Hooch does not penalise him for it).

Cobbing: Players must not make excessive use of their elbows against opponents. (Marcus Flint commits this foul against the Gryffindor Chaser, Angelina Johnson, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.)

Flacking: Keepers must not defend the posts from behind by punching the Quaffle out of the hoops — goals must be defended from the front.

Haversacking: Chasers must not still be in contact with the Quaffle as it passes through a hoop—the Quaffle must be thrown through.

Quaffle-pocking: Players must not tamper with the Quaffle in any way.

Snitchnip: No player other than the Seeker may touch or catch the Golden Snitch.

Stooging: No player may knock the opposing team's Keeper out of the way so they can score a goal easily. (However, game play in Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup and the fan-made Q3D permit this behaviour.)

International renowned player Patrick Mckenzie of Scotland is the only known player to commit more than half of these in one match, with multiple offenses.

Quidditch is explained to be derived from an amalgamation of several fictional ancient games:

Stichstock: Originating in Germany and consisting of a single wizard acting as a guardian or goalkeeper, trying to protect an inflated dragonbladder. A number of other players mounted on broomsticks would attempt to pierce the bladder, with the first who successfully did so being declared the winner; the goalkeeper could attempt to hex the other players; if nobody was able to pierce the bladder, the goalkeeper won.[1]

Aingingein: An Irish game which required broomstick-mounted players to fly through a number of burning barrels set in the air, whilst all the time clutching a ball with one hand. At the end of this fiery course was a goal into which the ball had to be hurled. The wizard who completed the course and scored a goal in the shortest time, without catching fire along the way, was the winner.[1]

Creaothceann: An exceptionally violent and often fatal game originating in Scotland. A large number of boulders were charmed to hover in the air and each player had a cauldron strapped to the back of his/her head. A horn was sounded, the rocks were released, and the players would fly around on their broomsticks trying to catch as many rocks in their cauldron as possible. The winner was the player who caught the most rocks.[1]

Shuntbumps: A very simple form of broomstick-jousting where one flyer attempted to knock the other off his broom.[1]

Swivenhodge: Rather like tennis on a broom, this involved hitting an inflated pig's bladder back and forth across a hedge.[1]

The name "Quidditch" is supposedly derived from Queerditch Marsh, the location of the first recorded game. The first ball to be introduced was the Quaffle, then a leather ball quite similar to the modern Quaffle, and hence the only playing positions were Chaser and Keeper. Soon afterwards were included in the game flying boulders that had been enchanted to attack players—the first Bludgers.

At first, the Bludgers had no human opponents on the pitch, but Beaters were introduced not long afterwards. As the heavy bats had the unfortunate tendency to shatter the boulders into flying gravel, the first metal Bludgers replaced them almost immediately. They were originally made of lead, but in the 15th century, magically reinforced beaters bats were introduced. They are currently made of iron. The final modification to the original "Kwidditch" was to set up three half-barrels at either end of the pitch as scoring targets (previously trees had been used for this purpose). The one missing element from this ancient game was the Golden Snitch.

The back-story of the Snitch is the most elaborate of all the Quidditch balls, and its introduction (so it is described in Quidditch Through the Ages) came as the direct result of a game played in 1269 in Kent. By this time, the game had attracted a cult following, and large crowds regularly attended matches.

Barberus Bragge, the Chief of the Wizards’ Council, attended the 1269 game. As a nod to the sport of Snidget-hunting, which was also popular at the time, Bragge brought a Snidget to the game and released it from its cage. He told the players that 150 Galleons—then an enormous sum of money—would be awarded to the player who caught the bird. As the promise of such a large reward would suggest, the players thence totally ignored the game, and simply went off in pursuit of the Snidget, which was kept within the arena by the crowd using Repelling Charms.

A witch named Modesty Rabnott took pity on the Snidget and rescued it with a Summoning Charm, by the time she was caught she had released the Snidget and was fined 10 Galleons, meaning she lost her house. But the connection with Quidditch had been made, and soon a Snidget was being released at every game. Each team added an extra player—originally called the Hunter, later renamed the Seeker—whose sole job was to catch and kill the Snidget, for which 150 points were awarded in memory of the 150 Galleons offered by Bragge in the original game. The popularity of Quidditch led to quickly declining Snidget numbers, and in the middle of the 14th century it was made a protected species by the Wizard's Council. This meant that the bird could no longer be used for Quidditch purposes. The game, however, could not continue without a substitute.

Whilst most people looked for a suitable alternative bird to chase, a metal-charmer called Bowman Wright from Godric's Hollow invented a fake Snidget which he called the Golden Snitch: a golden ball with silver wings, the same size and weight as a real Snidget, enchanted to accurately follow its flight patterns. An additional benefit was that the ball was also charmed to stay within the playing area. The Snitch was also given a "flesh memory", allowing it to remember who touched it first in order to leave no dispute as to who caught it. The Snitch quickly became the approved replacement for the Snidget, and the game of Quidditch has remained largely unchanged ever since.

At the time of the introduction of the Golden Snitch, a standard Quidditch pitch consisted of an elongated oval playing area 500 feet (150 m) long and 180 feet (55 m) wide. It had a small circle at the centre, approximately 2 feet (61 cm) in diameter, from which all the balls were released at the start of the game. The early barrel-goals had been replaced by baskets on stilts, but whilst these were practical, they did carry an inherent problem: there was no size restriction on the baskets, which differed dramatically from pitch to pitch.

By the late 1800s, scoring areas had been added at each end of the pitch, and an additional rule, called "Stooging", had been introduced, which dictated that only one Chaser was allowed in these areas at any given time. Being a recent rule then most other simple rules in Quidditch history, many did not agree with it. Before the introduction of the stooging rule, all three chasers would fly towards the scoring area, two of them would hold the keeper back, and the third would get an easy shot at the goal. Quidditch Through the Ages gives a thorough argument to these game additions. This includes a viewers' perspective of the Quidditch game with this new rule of Stooging. A common argument for Stooging would be that the Snitch was worth so many points that the Chasers and Keepers almost did not matter due to the Snitch being worth so many points and would end the match. However in the end, Stooging was declared overly brutal for the sport.

In 1650, the size of the baskets themselves had been reduced considerably, although there was still a certain amount of variation between pitches. Regulations were finally introduced in 1883 which replaced the baskets with hoops of a fixed size. Quidditch Through the Ages also devotes a large portion of a chapter to this rule.[2]

Ron's first appearance on team; after winning first match against Slytherin despite his poor performance Harry, Fred and George are not allowed to play after badly reacting to taunts from Slytherins. Re-constituted team goes on to win season.

A major motif of five of the Harry Potter books is the competition among the four Hogwarts houses for the Quidditch Cup each school year. The games are nearly always refereed by flying teacher Madam Hooch, although Snape refereed once in Harry's first year.

This team was often referred to, in the books, as the best team Hogwarts had ever seen. No Quidditch Cup tournament was held in Year 4 (Goblet of Fire) because of the Triwizard Tournament being hosted by Hogwarts.

Harry and the Weasley twins were banned from playing Quidditch for life by Dolores Umbridge for being involved in a fight with Draco Malfoy after the Gryffindor-Slytherin game. Subsequently the seeker spot was taken over by Ginny Weasley, while Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper became the new beaters. Following Umbridge's removal from the school, Harry's ban was lifted, so he could play again in the next year.

Ron Weasley and Katie Bell both became unintended victims of Draco Malfoy's attempts to kill Dumbledore, and while they were unable to play, their spots in the team were taken over by Cormac McLaggen and Dean Thomas. After they were healed, they both returned to the team. Snape banned Harry from the season’s last game for cursing Malfoy. Therefore, for that game, Ginny Weasley played as a seeker, and her position as chaser was taken over by Dean Thomas.

Bright orange and a double C with a speeding cannonball. The team's motto was originally "We shall conquer"; it was later changed to "Let's all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best." Once a decent team, the Cannons have fallen into a slump as of the publication of the series. Ron Weasley is a fan of the team. Founded in 1753.

Place does not exist in the muggle world. Navy blue robes with two crossed Bulrushes. Founded in 1163. Oliver Wood is picked for this team's reserve squad after graduating from Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore's favourite side.

Dark green robes with a golden talon on the chest. An all-female team whose members have first names that start with G. Founded in 1203. Between 1998 and 2013, Ginny Weasley spends several years playing for this team, before retiring after becoming pregnant.[citation needed]

The Bulgarian National Quidditch team and Irish National Quidditch team appear in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in which Ireland defeat Bulgaria in the Quidditch World Cup by 10 points. Final score was 170-160. The Bulgarian team consists of Chasers Dimitrov, Ivanova, and Levski, Keeper Zograf, Beaters Volkov and Vulchanov, and superstar Seeker Viktor Krum. The Irish team consists of Chasers Troy, Mullet, and Moran, Keeper Barry Ryan, Beaters Quigley and Connolly, and Seeker Aidan Lynch. According to Rowling's website, several players were named after friends of hers as an inside joke.

[20] www.pottermore.com revealed quidditch world cup 2014. It was won by Bulgaria in a nail-bitting final against Brazil mostly by great performance of bulgarian seeker Viktor Krum. Full tournament here:

There are some minor differences between how Quidditch is represented in Rowling's books and how it appears to be played in the films and video games. For example, the rule that players must not stray outside the pitch boundary is not evident, as players can be seen flying around the spectator towers at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch.

In the 2003 video game Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, the rule of only having a single Chaser in the scoring area is not enforced. Additionally, the game allows players to make special moves whereby several goals are scored in succession as multiple Chasers pass the Quaffle back and forwards through the hoops, whereas the rules dictate that after a goal is scored, possession passes to the Keeper.

Quodpot is a variant of Quidditch popular in the United States, the Western Hemisphere and, as a minority, Europe. Quodpot has never been mentioned in the novels, but it is described in Quidditch Through the Ages. There are eleven players on a side, who throw the Quod, a Quaffle modified to explode after a certain amount of time, from player to player, attempting to get it into the "pot" at the end of the pitch before it explodes. Any player in possession of the Quod when it explodes is disqualified. Once the Quod is in the "pot" (a cauldron containing a solution which prevents it from exploding), the scoring team is awarded a point and a new Quod is brought onto the pitch.

There have been small-scale attempts to adapt Quidditch to readily available technology, using bicycles, and unicycles.[23]

Also, some American schools, such as Harvard University and Emerson College have added Quidditch to their list of team sports.[24][25] In Sydney, Australia, and Canterbury, UK, a number of universities have formed Quidditch teams, played on foot while using one hand to hold a broom between the legs.[26]

A street in Lower Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, England is named Quidditch Lane, supposedly after a type of nearby dry ditch called a Quidditch. Fans have been known to visit the area.[27]

In the real world, the word "Quidditch" occurs in some English placenames (long before the Harry Potter stories were written), and seems to come from Anglo-Saxoncwǣð-dīc = "mud-ditch".